After over 2 weeks of hockey in Mannheim, Germany, I finally arrived in Cologne today to hook up with the rest of the Images on Ice crew in advance of the semi-final and medal games set to be played over the weekend. The event has proved entertaining as always, no question. Some moment throughout the first 2 rounds of play, finished up with a huge quarter final match win for the German National team last night which knocked the Swiss out of the medal round.

I have certainly been able to make a fair share of interesting pictures and for some reason at this event, there has been a disproportionate amount of images made by other photographers of me. Funny, I know. Never the less, I though I would share a few. If anything, I always tried to keep it light around the rink. Enjoy!

As I head out across the Atlantic ocean on a flight bound for Frankfurt, Germany, the sun is just barely beginning to rise somewhere to the east of us and at 36,000 feet it is simply a warm glow in the distance on the horizon. It is my 13th flight since Christmas and my 2nd transatlantic crossing within the past week after flying home from Belarus. As I look forward with excitement and anticipation towards the premiere event in International Ice Hockey, I can’t help but think how quickly the season has gone by, and what a busy season at that. Sure, there were some days that didn’t seem to be going by all that quickly, but it is unreal to look back and see how much ground I have covered over the past five months. This will be my 6th World Championship event of the year, which crossed the span of 10 time zones. This last stand is the Men’s World Championships. By the numbers, it takes place in 2 Cities, with sixteen teams, over twenty days, with numerous NHL and international hockey starts, and finally, 1 gold medal game. The main event. Not unlike the Olympics, this event is a big one, usually, the biggest in non-Olympic years.

I have been fortunate to see so much top level hockey this year, something some people would only dream of and it has been nothing short of amazing to say the least. From the nail biting gold medal overtime win by Team USA at the famous World Juniors tournament in Saskatchewan, to another nail biting gold medal overtime win, this time by Canada’s Men’s hockey team in Vancouver at the 2010 Olympic Games. Then on to see Japan’s upset of Canada’s Sledge Hockey at the Paralympics Games, followed by Chicago, where Canada’s U18 Women won gold. Again, finishing in overtime Then, most recently, the dominance of Team USA at the Men’s U18 tournament in Minsk, Belarus. At this point, I can only imagine that the final event of my season will continue to be nothing short of spectacular to cap off an absolutely stellar year of international hockey. Looking forward to it.